Suboptimal play, Dominion and me
Do I love playing games poorly, or do I love to experiment? You be the judge.
Latest
Seven great games from 2025
We're 75 percent through 2025. Some great games have emerged.
My five favorite roll-and-write games
Plus nine honorable mentions, because there are too many great games to limit myself
What makes a great word game?
Three great word games that don’t demand a thorough reading of the dictionary
Five games to replace Mouse Trap
I wanted to love Mouse Trap as a kid. I wish I'd had these five games instead.
Fate of the Fellowship is an impressive Pandemic spin-off
Matt Leacock's latest Pandemic offering tells the story The Lord of the Rings, piece by piece.
Taiki Shinzawa, trick-taking innovator
Few people have pushed trick-taking in new directions quite like Taiki Shinzawa. Let's explore his catalog together.
Three hidden gem worker placement games
These three worker placement games have flown under the radar.
The 24 trick-taking games I played in one weekend
TTUTCON II introduced me to so many amazing games.
Great board games for six players
When your game night expands, there are still plenty of great games to play.
Four board games that break convention
Breaking from the norm isn't a recipe for instant success, but it can make for a great board game.
Six classic board games still worth your time
The board game renaissance is still underway, but it really got started in the 1990s.
Newsletter
Board games with great themes
What's in a theme?
Board Games
Eight great games from 2025
Every year's a great year for board games, and 2025 is no exception.
Newsletter
Why Haggis is the greatest modern climbing game
What makes Haggis such an enduring game? I'm diving in.
Board Games
Finding the sweet spot for board game expansions
When are expansions essential, and when are they unnecessary? What's the sweet spot?
Newsletter
Two great games to play this summer: Oddland and Hot Streak
These two games offer two sides of the family-weight coin.
Newsletter
Understanding Reiner Knizia, board gaming's most prolific designer
I'm diving deep into the data.
Board Games
Why are great flicking games hard to come by?
Flicking games underwent a small resurgence, but why aren't there more of them?
Newsletter
Flip 7, Looot stand out among 2025 Spiel des Jahres nominees
The annual gaming award nominees were announced.
Retrospectives
Looking back at 2005 in board games
2005 wasn't the strongest year in games — the best was very much yet to come.
What Makes a Game?
Risk as an essential feature in games
We start to try to answer an age-old question: What makes a game?
Newsletter
How tariffs are impacting board game publishers
It's not pretty.
Trick-Taking and Climbing
Four games to replace the classic card game Hearts
Hearts is great, but these four games are newer and shinier.